Don't buy a PC from HP

[Caligastia]

My in-laws just bought a new PC from HP. I repartitioned the drive and installed XP Pro for them (instead of home), as well as antivirus and some other useful apps. I called HP support because the PS2 ports in the CPU were loose, which caused the keyboard to keep losing its connection, and they said that the warranty was void because I had installed a new OS. WTF? They won't support the hardware because I don't have their software? Bastards!

I hope none of the other major vendors out there are doing this.

[Dinner]

HP has gone down hill.

[Zopperoni]

Image the hard drive, re-install the original XP from the restore CD, have the asshats from HP repair the PC, restore the image, problem solved, everybody happy.

[Caligastia]

They don't provide restore CDs any more. They put all that on a fat32 partition on the HD...which I deleted.

[Dis]

why did you tell them you installed a new os? I don't volunteer information like that.

[Caligastia]

Yes, well, silly me, I thought the HD belonged to my in-laws, not HP.

[Dis]

in any case, it's a hardware/mechanical problem. What difference does it make what OS it uses?

[Caligastia]

Exactly. But I couldn't be bothered fighting with tech support about it, so I got my in-laws to buy a USB keyboard and mouse.

[Zkribbler]

That's a ridiculous excuse. Are they trying to say that installing software somehow loosened the connections?

Is there a better business bureau or consumer protection agency where you are? Y'know, someone who'll protect your legal rights without you having to hire an attorney.

[Provost Harrison]

Sounds remarkably dodgy to me though...people constantly install and uninstall software. And if they didn't give you discs for the operating system, what would they expect you to do in the event of a needed reinstall?

[Dinner]

They probably want you to buy a new computer.

In any event since HP bought Compaq the company has gone down hill. They seem to have adopted all that was bad about Compaq (**** costumer service, shody build quality, cutting content to the bone) without keeping any of HP's strengths (quality used to be top notch, costumer service was so good they gave my friend tech support 4 years after he'd bought his computer without a tech support contract), and they bundled EVERYTHING with the computer for free. Sure, HPs were kind of expensive but it was like buying a BMW.

Now their just generic **** and I know a lot of generic computer makers who can under cut HP's prices. Fiorina was a crap CEO and she ran that company into the ground. She wanted her short term gains and her cuts & mergers cost the company its long term position.

[-Jrabbit]

My HP 6100 series laptop just died, only 16 months old.
It was just a basic machine, but still...

[Wiglaf]

Just call tech support again and don't tell them about the OS?

[SlowwHand]

Microsoft recommends Pro.

Thanks for the info. If I had been considering HP, I wouldn't be now.

[Wittlich]

I, for one, love HP printers and would own nothing but HP Printers ... but HP computers, on the other hand, are a totally different animal. I myself always gravitate towards IBM computers - they have not let me down yet.